Jenney v. Airtek Corp.

• Decision Date: 12 April 1988
• Citation: Jenney v. Airtek Corp., 402 Mass. 152, 521 N.E.2d 388 (Mass. 1988)
• Parties: Melvin R. JENNEY, et al. 1 v. AIRTEK CORPORATION.
• Court: Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

Page 388

521 N.E.2d 388

402 Mass. 152

Melvin R. JENNEY, et al.¹ v.AIRTEK CORPORATION.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Suffolk.

Argued Feb. 4, 1988.

Decided April 12, 1988.

Herman L. Fussell, Georgia, Ga., and Richard Bachman, Boston, for defendant.

Susan A. Hartnett, Boston, for plaintiff.

HENNESSEY, C.J., and WILKINS, LIACOS, ABRAMS and O'CONNOR, JJ.

WILKINS, Justice.

On June 3, 1974, when, at the defendant Airtek's request, the plaintiff withdrew from a particular case as Airtek's counsel, Airtek agreed to pay the previously billed, unpaid amount of its account, consisting of $15,712.01, within forty-five days.The plaintiff's charges for services and disbursements not billed on or before June 3, 1974, amounted to $6,364.04, for which the plaintiff sent a bill to Airtek on June 21, 1974.Airtek paid neither the unpaid, previously billed charges ($15,712.01) nor the charges billed subsequent to June 3, 1974($6,364.04).

This action was commenced on June 23, 1980.The applicable statute of limitations provides that an action of contract must be commenced within six years after the cause of action accrued.G.L. c. 260, § 2 (1986 ed.).This action was commenced within six years of the date (forty-five days after June 3, 1974) by which Airtek agreed to pay the $15,712.01 balance on its account, but it was not commenced within six years of the termination of the plaintiff's services on June 3, 1974.The trial judge ruled that the action was timely as to this claim.

Although the action was not commenced within six years of June 3, 1974, nor within six years of the date of the plaintiff's June 21, 1974, bill for $6,364.04, the judge ruled that Airtek had had a reasonable time after June 21, 1974, to pay that bill, and thus the plaintiff's claim for the $6,364.04 did not accrue unless a reasonable time had passed.She ruled further that a reasonable time to pay that bill was thirty days, or until July 20, 1974, and that the action was also timely as to this claim.

The judge thus rejected Airtek's defense of the statute of limitations as to each claim.Airtek appealed, and we transferred the appeal here.We agree with the judge that the plaintiff's claim for $15,712.01 was not barred by the statute of limitations.The action was not timely, however, as to the claim for $6,364.04.The only substantial issue on appeal concerns the statute of limitations.²

We turn first to the claim for $15,712.01, the previously billed amount which was unpaid on June 3, 1974, which Airtek promised to pay within forty-five days.³Airtek relies on the general rule that an attorney's cause of action for fees accrues no later than when his services terminate.SeeEliot v. Lawton, 7 Allen 274, 276(1863)(statute of limitations starts to run for attorney's services in handling case when action is terminated);18 S. Williston, Contracts§ 2028, at 813 (3d ed. 1978); Annot., 60 A.L.R.2d 1008, 1010(1958 and later case service [1984]).That rule has no bearing on this issue because Airtek and the plaintiff made a new, enforceable agreement concerning the payment of outstanding charges that replaced the earlier obligation.SeeDevine v. Murphy, 168 Mass. 249, 250, 46 N.E. 1066(1897).Airtek broke that new agreement when it failed to pay the plaintiff $15,712.01 on or before July 18, 1974, the forty-fifth day after June 3, 1974.The plaintiff's cause of action for breach of that agreement accrued that day, and this action was commenced within six years of that date.

The plaintiff's claim for $6,364.04, the amount of charges for services and disbursements unbilled on June 3, 1974, stands on a different footing.Because there was no new agreement concerning this claim, the general rule should apply that a cause of action for legal fees accrues when the attorney's services are terminated.We reject the plaintiff's argument that its cause of action accrued only when a reasonable time had passed after it had sent a bill for its...